HMS Bellerophon by flyer - FINISHED - Amati/Victory Models - scale 1:72

[flyer]

Hi Michael

Do you mean the decorative strip?

No big deal. The profile came right out of the box. Similar profiles would e.g. be available here:

https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/Walnut-profiles.html

Cheers

Peter

[md1400cs]

Peter -- easy thanks. They are my "go to" vender. Will add some of those bits to my list. 

[Martin W]

Nice work as always, Peter.  Your Bosun looks like he's just about to haul the boat up by himself.  Even for a strong-looking guy like him that would be a feat! 

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[flyer]

 

Rudder improvement

AON showed in his wonderful Bellerophon build, how to improve the look of pintles and gudgeons on the rudder. They are etched brass with a row of holes. Using those holes to nail the parts on would have given a too coarse impression. I just glued all on and left the holes open. Now using a drop of glue, applied twice into the hole and painted black or copper simulates an acceptable bolt head.

 

the rudder before reworking with holes instead of bolts

 

glue drops applied

 

reworked rudder hanged again

 

 

Bowsprit and jib boom

The bowsprit was quite an interesting spar to build. To facilitate the adjustments according to the angle of bowsprit, I set my vice to the same angle for most of the construction.

While handling the jib boom I decided not to fix neither jib boom nor the dolphin striker yet (more to that part later) but wait until the rigging process would need it. This will reduce the risk of damage especially while frequently turning Bellerophon.

Below the bees I fixed some simplified bee blocks and the allocation of the caps eye bolts differs slightly from the instructions to leave room for manropes and jib boom horses. Not all went smoothly: The end of the bowsprit is round instead of square due me to overlooking wrong kit instructions - but that mistake should be covered by the cap. And the making of the stay collars was such a delightful task that I made 5 of them: no serving, wrong rope strength, wrong method of attachment. But for now I'm happy with the result and  working on the yards.

 

bowsprit end with simplified bee blocks

 

 

bee blocks and cap lavishly glued on (to cover the snags)

 

collars in place but main fore stay collar not served and the bobstay deadeyes collars wrongly spliced

 

approximately 4th attempt for stay collar

 

final arrangement of collars with jib boom provisionally in place

 

bees and cap

 

now only the two spritsail yards remain and then finally I may start rigging - yay!

 

 

 

Dolphin striker and martingale stay

The 1786 Belerophon most probably didn't have a dolphin striker. According to Lees they were first introduced in 1794. However I think it possible that one was added later on, to support the jib boom. The piece provided with the kit resembles a dolphin striker of the very first generation, nailed onto the front of the cap, with just a score cut into its end for the martingale stay. This striker was in use up to 1800 - still according to Lees. Up to about 1805 martingale stay and martingale back stay were combined and led from the end of the jib boom to the notch in the end of the striker (this part was the martingale stay) and then further on to an eyebolt in the head (martingale back stay) to be set up with a fall.

Now the kits plans had me pondering. It showed such an early variant however with the backstay part set up with a fall just behind the bees. Nowhere in all my books I could confirm such an arrangement. Finally I found in Zu Mondfeld's book a sketch where the backstay part is led through a block near the collar of the fore preventer stay towards the head. Assuming that the designer of the kits rigging perhaps took a kind of a shortcut, but was close to the correct appearance, I  think that this version would be a valuable solution. Where in the head the eyebolt for the fall should be placed, I wouldn't know. Lees states that it was set up on the bow, port side of the bowsprit. So, I think the lower part of the port knighthead might be a suitable place to put that eye bolt.

 

 

[AON]

The late 1700's saw a lot of changes, like the woolding ropes/hoops being replaced with iron hoops, various developments in the dolphin striker.

 

Your rudder bolt heads look wonderful... thanks go to John Cairns of our local club for having shared this method with us.  Those plastic build guys can do amazing things!

[flyer]

 

The spritsail yard was made with some changes to the kits plan. The centre part is only 8- instead of 16-sided. in Lees I found no information which showed  it 16-sided - the crossjack seems to be the only one with this feature.

Also the holes in the yardarm of the spritsail yard - supposed to take the sprit topsail sheet - were replaced by blocks at the yardarms. Lees doesn't mention any sheaves in those yards but leads the sheet through blocks.

 

The boomkins were also made but only provisionally fixed. Putting them in too early would be just another disaster waiting to happen. They are a bit sturdier than the kits sketch. Again I tried to follow Lees.

 

While working on this I thought about how to fix the boats on the beams. As I know Murphy, he would like to have all kind of things falling into to waist, out of reach as soon as the boats were fixed. So the lashing of the boats will have to be easily releasable. The first solution was to splice a line to an eyebolt on one side and the lead the line alternately over a boat and trough an eyebolt on the beam until fixing it to the eyebolt on the other side.

While working on the rigging I may come up with a better solution. I think the boats were lashed individually and I should try to imitate this better.

 

 

Spritsail yard and sprit topsail yard

 

boomkins

 

boats lashed on the beams

 

false splice

Somewhere in those pages I found a 'false splice' which I would like to share here. I use it often, find it helpful and it's easily done. The example is the lashing line for the boats, spliced to the first eye bolt.

1: thread the line through itself

 

2: ...and back again, marking the length of the splice.

 

 

3. pull taught and fix with diluted glue

 

4. cut the free end to length. Voila!

 

 

[Beef Wellington]

Nice work Peter, I found the rigging and configuration of the martingale to be one of the harder things to figure out, even with Lees as as reference, so glad you have a plan.

[flyer]

 

 

Standing rigging

 

 

Mizzen mast

Again I started low and aft at the mizzen mast with the standing rigging.

First I prepared the tackles and shrouds around the masthead. Then, after putting up the first three shroud pairs, I installed the respective stay and tried to balance the forces on those lines, while keeping the mast upright. Several deadeyes had to be reset to get an more or less even distance from the deadeyes on the channels. Then the remaining shrouds were set up. First priority always has an equal pull on all the shrouds and the deadeyes forming nice parallel lines only second. In fact I think that on real ships all those ropes constantly worked and resetting of the shroud lanyards probably was an constant process, keeping an even pull on all that shrouds during hot, cold, dry and humid weather. I doubt that every time the deadeyes were newly aligned as well. At least this is my excuse for the uneven line of my deadeyes.

 

To set up the ratlines (yay!) I used cow hitches at the ends and clove hitches between.

 

Finally the crowfoot was set up.

 

A first few corrections to the strength of some lines in the plans were necessary:

- the strength of the futtock shrouds on all masts is of course the same as that of the associated topmast shrouds.

- the catharpins in the plans are to fat. According to Lees they should be 25% of the main shrouds which are 1,3mm - I took 0,25mm line for the catharpins.

 

 

one seaman to set up the ratlines and two to supervise him - efficient would be different...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by flyer

[Martin W]

The two supervisors are doing a good job, because the one working seaman has tied those ratlines nice and neatly.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[flyer]

Main mast

 

The lower main shrouds were set up in a similar manner as those of the mizzen. The futtock shrouds have a strength of 1 mm.

 

Some alterations to the main stay and its preventer stay were necessary. The kit's plans are a bit ambiguous as how to fix the forward ends to the bow. After some searching in web and books, I decided to follow Lees and set the collar of the main stay up the way the preventer stay is shown on the plans: It leads below the forecastle rails and the collar goes through the hole in the beak below the bowsprit. The preventer stay leads over the rail, it's collar over a pair of new stop cleats on the bowsprit and through an additional hole in the beak. It runs a bit close to the seats of ease and may irritate the seamen there but nobody said that the life of a seaman is a bed of roses.

 

The snaking of both stays was continued past the foremast. On the plan it ends there but probably this is because the preventer stay up to 1793 only went to the foremast and only later to the bowsprit.  As I try to show my Bellerophon the way Napoleon might have seen her, I set the preventer stay up in the later fashion.

 

The lashing of the stowed boats seemed inadequate. I cut the spliced eyes from the ringbolts and threaded the lines through it and set them up double. That will look better in some lively weather.

 

Main shrouds and stays

 

mast top with crowsfeet

 

stays on the starboard side of the foremast

 

stay collars

 

better lashed boats

[AON]

Good afternoon "Flyer".

I am very interested in following and understanding your rigging of this ship.  I appreciate your comment about the Preventer Stay rigging changing in 1793.  This will be very helpful to me.

I presently have one question: what do you mean by the statement of "The futtock shrouds have a strength of 1 mm"?

Did you mean diameter?

[flyer]

Hi Alan

 

Yes, diameter. Perhaps an accidental slip into a too verbatim translation. In German technical texts you use sometimes  'Stärke' as diameter.

 

Be aware that I don't check all rigging diameters against the tables in Lees -  only when I see some strange proportions or if it seems illogical from a technical point of view I do a crosscheck.

 

According to Lees the futtock shrouds should have the same diameter as the corresponding topmast shrouds - which is logical. They have to transfer the pull from the topmast shrouds to the anchoring point on the lower shrouds.

 

Peter

[flyer]

Foremast and bowsprit

 

The standing rigging was set up mostly according to the kits plans.  Again the futtock shrouds have a strength of 1mm.

 

A small problem showed up, when setting up the bobstays. They conflict with Bellerophon's outstretched arm. Just a few days before putting the stays in place an accident involving a lamp and gravity had broken of the said arm. After fixing it meticulously with epoxy glue I was only slightly annoyed to find it being in the way of the bobstays. Braking it again was no option - I mean he is a hero, no less! Now I hope, that one doesn't notice that the hero's arm pushes the stays a bit. Anyway it's nearly impossible to avoid a conflict.

Perhaps this figurehead should be constructed differently, e.g. he could lift his left arm to face level.

 

 

lower foremast and bowsprit standing rigging set up

 

 

fore stays, bowsprit shrouds and bobstays attached

 

 

the hero's arm got entangled in the bobstays

 

 

foretop

[AON]

Now you've got me worried.

[flyer]

Worried. Sure. Looking at your build I just can't imagine you not carving an outstanding figurehead (without any parts standing out to much).

 

Checking the book The Billy Ruffian I found not much information on the effigy of our hero but I somehow doubt they carved any figurehead with such protruding parts much likely to brake of.

I'm eagerly looking forward to see your solution. Anyway, until you reach that stage you still have a few months to consider how to depict our hero.

[AON]

A few months?!?   🤣

I work at the speed of dark... very slowly.

It will be many many months before I get anywhere near that point.

[flyer]

bobstays

 

Following a discussion about bobstays on Alan O'Neill's (AON) log for his fantastic Bellerophon I found that the bobstays were lashed together in front of the beakhead and ran in parallel.

When I tried it, I found, that not only the bobstays now clear the figureheads arm, but the new arrangement looks much tidier and shipshape.

Thanks for all the inputs!

 

bobstays lashed - Bellerophon's left arm is now free

 

looking better

[flyer]

mizzen topmast

 

While setting up shrouds, stay and backstays and balancing their pull I noticed an error in the kit's plans. The rigging stages 2(stays) and 3(backstays) should be interchanged because of the normal sequence of the ropes at the masthead. The stay should go over all shrouds and backstays and therefore be the last to set up.

 

I reduced the topmast stay to the same dimension as the shrouds. If I understand Lees rigging dimensions correctly on the topmast the shrouds, backstays and stays all hat the same diameter. This seems a bit illogical because one stay then balances 4 backstays all with the same diameter. Nevertheless I set it up that way.

 

 

testing the new ratlines

 

 

 

mizzen topmast top

 

 

 

stay

 

 

 

backstays

 

 

 

mizzen topmast standing rigging finished

Edited April 5, 2022 by flyer
layout

[Meriadoc Brandybuck]

On 2/17/2022 at 11:57 PM, flyer said:

This seems a bit illogical because one stay then balances 4 backstays all with the same diameter.

Perhaps this is because square rigged ships usually put wind behind the sails, putting a lot of regular forward pressure on the masts? 

I too have often wondered about the prodigious abundance of backstays and shrouds in comparison to the few stays at work. 

 

Meriadoc

Edited February 18, 2022 by Meriadoc Brandybuck

[flyer]

Hi Merry

 

Of course. I was looking at the mast as a static system and totally leaving the forces on the sails out of the equation. So, even when tacking you always have forward thrust from the sails onto the masts (and also a considerable lateral force).

Still you would have to watch out for not overloading the stays if you set a sail back and when using staysails.

Your explanation sounds very logical.

 

Thank you

Peter

 

 

(I also got some information from AON which confirms the relative sizes. Thanks Alan.)

[Meriadoc Brandybuck]

7 hours ago, flyer said:

Still you would have to watch out for not overloading the stays if you set a sail back

I wonder if this was how a lot of topmasts were lost, when maneuvering into the wind with an inexperienced crew, and getting stuck in irons with too much sail on and only the stays keeping you together. Not much of a sailor myself though. 

 

Meriadoc

[flyer]

main topmast

 

 

Just in time I remembered to place the lashings and hangers for the upper jeer blocks for the main yard. After setting up shrouds and ratlines it would have been kind of a keyhole surgery (again).

 

Then shrouds, backstays and stays were set up and the ratlines rattled down.

 

According to Lees and Steeles rigging tables I reduced the size of the stays to 1,0 respective 0,75 mm.

 

One question was if the preventer stay should be above the stay (kit's instructions) or vice versa (Lees). The skipper and the bosun had a discussion and I finally went with the kit's version because this coincides with the lower stays and I didn't see a logical reason to put it up otherwise - going very reluctantly against Lees.

 

One minor problem was presented by the foremost backstay. It was in the way when setting up the ratlines and I had to unship it again. It's still provisionally set up until the topgallant shrouds are in place.

 

 

main top with hangers for the main yard jeers

 

 

main topmast standing rigging

 

 

mainmast stay (starboard) and preventer stay at the foot of the fore mast

 

 

main top

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by flyer

[allanyed]

Your model continues to be a great project for us to follow, especially your rigging.   Do you know why the kit has a different number of deadeyes than those on the contemporary drawing for multiple ships, including Bellerophon.       https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-80933    This seems like a pretty basic item for any good quality kit designer.

 

Allan

Edited April 5, 2022 by allanyed

[flyer]

Hmm, interesting question. I didn't notice that and have no idea why.

 

Checking my sources I find that the numbers of shrouds and backstays coincides with Brian Lavery's AOTS book Bellona. The number of deadeyes is similar to those on the well known temporary model. however he leaves one on the main and two on the foremast empty. Was having some spare deadeyes perhaps a used practise? Lavery should be a reliable source and Bellona is quite similar to the arrogant class.

 

On the other hand, those body plans were perhaps drawn with just a hint at a general arrangement of the deadeyes for the rigging. The rigging details being determined by the shipwrights actually setting up masts and rigging according to the then valid establishment.

 

Any thoughts from your side?

 

And thanks for the compliments

Peter

[flyer]

fore topmast

 

The work here was quite similar to that on the main mast. Stay and preventer stay were changed to one step thinner thread than on the plans.  Again the preventer stay was installed above the stay as the kit's plans show. In the meantime I found that not only Lees, but also Zu Mondfeld have it the other way around. But I stuck to the decision to follow the plans,  wondering if the kit's designer (Chris Watton ?) perhaps had different information on this.

A fellow sufferer once explained that he likes some tasks that much, that he repeats them several times. Same here with upper jeer blocks and mainstay. The plan had double blocks for the jeers, which I cheerfully installed only to find later in Lees that I would need triple blocks - I changed them.

While I worked on the fore topmast stays, I wondered about those holes in the knightheads on the beakhead - and slowly realized that the main stay collar should lead through them! OK, I unrigged lashing and collar (some fixations were made with CA but I could cut and scratch that away), threaded the collar in the knighthead, the whole bow works and the other knighthead und set all up again with - would you believe it - hardly any swearwords.

For relaxation I installed the missing gunport lids on the upper deck.

 

 

standing rigging of topmasts done

 

 

 

bow with rigged topmast stays

 

 

 

maintop with triple jeer block

 

 

 

mainstay collar wrongly rigged

 

 

 

...corrected and fore topmast stay in place

 

 

upper deck gunport lids

Edited May 26, 2022 by flyer

[Blue Ensign]

Looking good Peter, very nice work.

Love the second shot in the sequence, did you know there appears to be a hobgoblin lurking at the head.😉

 

B.E.

[flyer]

Hi B.E.

 

Thanks. And yes, and I even managed to get a closer look at the creature in picture 5.

Hobgoblin? Maybe we should ask Amati what kind of crew they are brokering.

 

Peter

[flyer]

mizzen topgallant mast

 

This was something I dreaded a bit. The crosstrees are quite flimsy, laser cut wooden parts, very much given to brake off. I did strengthen their joint with the trestletrees with epoxy after I broke the first but still didn't thrust them fully. In this scale etched metal crosstrees would perhaps be safer.

 

 

Anyway I managed to rig the shrouds but puzzled about how to make fast the lower ends. The plan has them hitched around lower deadeyes of the topmast shrouds (after led around the futtock staves) but Lees says that they were made fast with a lashing to the deadeye, whatever that means. Finally I found an illustration in Zu Mondfeld's book where they are made fast to the lower deadeye with  thimbles and a lanyard. That's what after some discussions between the skipper (me) and the bosun (also me) was used.

 

Contrary to the kits plans backstays and stay were rigged with the same diameter thread (0,5mm) as the shrouds. This is according to Lees and steele's rigging tables.

 

The backstays were rigged according to the plan. The stay however again asked for some thinking. On the plan it's lower end is just hooked into an eyebolt in the main top. After some searching I decided to use the same setup as for the shrouds.

 

A little mistake must have happened somewhere while setting up my masts. The stay should lead horizontally to the block directly below the main topmast cap, from where it goes to the maintop. I found on my Bellerophon it ascends towards that block. Either the mizzen mast was served a bit short or the mainmast did grow.

 

 

Mizzen topmast stay seems horizontal - unfortunately it isn't

 

 

from 'Historische Schiffsmodelle: Das Handbuch für den Modellbauer' by Wolfram zu Mondfeld

 

 

 

mizzen topmast top

 

 

lower ends of topgallant shrouds in the mizzen top

 

 

lower end of mizzen topgallant stay in main top

Edited June 3, 2022 by flyer

[Oldsalt1950]

That crewman appears to be on steroids. Large arms, legs, hands and feet.

[flyer]

Oh yes, that sailor!

 

It already was suspected that he was a hobgoblin (which could be a Klabauterman in German, I think) and now he is suspected of taking steroids. Trying to clarify his ethnic background, I checked him: no green teeth nor red hair, so he most probably is no ship's cobold.

 

Officially our figure lived in the early 19th century. Steroids weren't forbidden then -  so no contravention there.

 

Perhaps he was just unlucky when choosing his parents.